I Once Was Lost But Now I'm Found
by averageeverydayinsanegoddess
Summary: {au twist on current events and resurrected Lila, Rafe x Oc, Ethina, JaSam, Davis family} Annika Conner lived almost her entire life not knowing the actual truth about her life. When her adoptive mother makes the decision to reveal that truth, her life will be impacted in a major way. She finds a family and finds love with Rafe Kovich Jr. Will the impact of all this change be good?
1. Chapter 1

The door to the bar stood open, Metallica blasted from within, probably from the ancient jukebox in the back of the place right next to the pool tables. A few drunks still lingered in the parking lot but for the most part, it looked as if last call was fast approaching when the brunette made her way in wearing ripped jeans, a Nirvana t shirt with a dirty grayish white thermal top beneath it and red Converses.

Maybe it was the fact that she looked to be around the same age as he was that made him notice.. Or maybe it was the bright almost golden brown eyes. Either way, Rafe made his way over and tapped the girls shoulder. She turned around and gave him a strange look as she sipped a soda and said nothing. "Hi." he said finally as she looked at him as if debating on whether to speak or run for the hills.

He didn't have that many scars from his recent wreck, did he, he wondered as he looked at her. Something about her reminded him of Molly, his best friend, the girl he once thought he loved. He couldn't quite put a finger on what it was, however.

"Hi." Annika finally said as she looked at the tall guy standing in front of her. He looked to be about her age, which made her wonder.. Just what in the hell was he doing in The Floating Rib a little before last call.. She knew, of course, why she was there, to escape her adoptive mother's bitching and drinking, again.. But why was he there too?

And on a school night at that.

"You go to PCH." Annika finally muttered as a spark of recognition hit her. She'd seen him talking to some guy named TJ.

Rafe nodded and sipped his own Sprite then said quietly, "Yeah.. You're the girl who punched Jessa in the face earlier this week, right? You just moved here?"

"Observant one, aren't you?" Annika muttered as she raked her hands through her hair. She realized she didn't actually know anything about the guy standing in front of her, sadly, but she should, he was her Anatomy and Physiology partner and he sat a seat in front of her in English.

Annika kept to herself mostly.

They'd just moved to town, her mother gave the excuse that she was here to 'right a wrong', and basically, her personal life was falling to pieces currently. She didn't want to get to know anyone because if she did, they might realize just how bad things were for her and she'd go back into foster care like she had been twice in her life already.

And she'd die before she went back into the foster system.

"Smartass, aren't you?" Rafe answered with a slight smirk as he asked her, "What are you doing in a bar?"

"I could ask you the same thing. But see, I'm not nosy so I haven't.. But if you wanna know, I decided to sneak out and go for a walk.. My adoptive mom and I kinda got into it earlier, I figured walking off the anger would be one hell of a lot better than putting my fist through a plaster wall, so... Heard the Metallica, decided to come in here.. But since you asked, I'll ask you the same now.. It's Rafe, right? Why are you in a bar, Rafe?" Annika asked as she sipped her Dr. Pepper, eyed him warily.

Was he like the other assholes at Port Charles High?

Or was he genuinely trying to be a nice guy.

"My friend Molly's on a date with TJ.. I have no actual homework and my uncle works nights this week at the hospital, so..." Rafe said as he shuffled his sneakers against the hardwood floor. He studied her intently then asked, "Where did you move here from?"

"Nevada. I liked it better there. More to do." Annika said as she looked at him and then at a pool table in the back of the bar, then at the clock on the wall.. One game of pool. They had time for one game of pool before the 12 am last call.

"So.. Wanna play a round of pool? I mean since we've both got nothing better to do, obviously." Annika asked as Rafe nodded, added with a smirk, "I'll probably beat you."

"We'll see, tiger." Annika muttered as she slid off her stool and slunk towards the back of the bar, towards the pool table. On her way to the back, she stopped at the jukebox and put on Going To Hell by Pretty Reckless and began to hum along, headbanging a little bit.

Rafe chuckled, shaking his head as he said "Racking or breaking?"

"Breaking. Racking is the bitches job, buddy." Annika pointed out as she held out the rack and winked at him mischeviously. Something about the way her almost golden brown eyes twinkled with that wink definitely made him think of Molly.

He sighed to himself. He had to get over her. TJ was it for her. She kept going back. Even after he'd almost died and she'd done everything she had, sat with him day and night.. She still loved TJ more.

And he was starting to be okay with that.

By the end of the game they were talking and laughing like friends would. And as she walked out of the bar she stopped in the doorway and suggested, " If you wanna.. We can walk down to the park for a few. Not like I'm in a huge hurry to go home."

He nodded and then caught up to her, the two of them walked down the sidewalk and towards the park. Annika's cell phone began to ring, the ring tone was some Papa Roach song, Hollywood Whore, and she looked at Rafe with a shrug as she held up a finger and said quietly, "Shh.. My drunken lush of an adoptive parent." before laughing a little.

He sort of gaped at her a few moments and she shrugged and muttered "It is what it is."

Across town, the woman stood outside of Samantha McCall Morgan's apartment with a thick envelope in her hands, which were shaking badly. She swayed from side to side and reeked of alcohol, but she knew that if she'd come this far, this had to be done.. She had to give that poor girl her husband stole for himself after they lost their own daughter, -she'd been a stillborn -16 years ago back to the mother she should have had.

If she'd known the truth before now, she'd have already done it.

Besides, the kid got in the way of her being able to come and go whenever she wanted. Her husband had wanted the little brat, not her.

And now that he was gone, she saw no real reason to actually keep a child that her husband had stolen just because he actually wanted to be a parent and she actually didn't.

So she was doing the right thing for her own selfish reasons.

She'd just called the girl, drunkenly, demanded she get her ass back to the apartment they lived in. When the girl did, Meia fully intended on telling the kid the whole truth, good, bad and ugly.

She sat the envelope down in front of the door and knocked loudly, waited for any indication that she'd been heard and then when she knew she had, she hauled ass out of there.

Because no way in hell was she about to go to prison for her husbands baby kleptomania.. Especially when she hadn't wanted the damn kid in question to begin with.

Inside the apartment, Jason Morgan raised a brow. It was a little after midnight.. What the hell was someone doing stopping by the penthouse he shared with his wife Sam and their son Danny after midnight? Standing, he walked to the door and opened it. Nobody was there but there was a thick envelope propped by the bottom of the door. He bent and picked it up, opened it and began to read.

And as soon as he did, he felt the anger surge and all the old pain he'd felt when Sam and he thought that she'd lost the daughter they'd been intending on raising together as it came rushing back.

"Sam.. You might wanna get in here and look at this, babe." he called out as Sam walked into the den. He handed her the envelope and she sat down, read the contents within.

When she finished she sat shocked and quiet for at least ten minutes.

"All this time.. She's been.. Lila's been alive.. Someone stole her from the hospital?"

"You don't know that.."

"But I don't not know that either, Jason.. I'm gonna look into it."

"You should.. I know it hurts.. I know how much you'd die for a rewind button, babe.. But what if this is one of Franco's sick jokes? I mean he is back in town."

"I don't think he even knew about Lila, Jase."

"Me either, but just to be safe." Jason insisted as she nodded and then said quietly, "This is what she looks like." as she held out a picture to Jason who promptly spat the beer he was nursing everywhere.

"She works at the shop. I mean she's pretty much a glorified gopher, but.. She loves cars.. And bikes.. She's the kid I took the left over chili to." Jason said quietly as he looked at the girl in the photograph Sam handed him.. he'd felt something, some strange connection to the girl when she'd shown up begging for something, no anything to do one day about two weeks ago.

She reminded him for a moment of what his wife Sam must have been like as a kid.. And he'd gotten to know the kid fairly well considering neither of them were exactly people kind of people and hardly talked.

"That's her? The one who's living with the woman who got arrested for drunk and disorderly when she burst into the shop and started throwing a fit with the girl for not being home?" Sam asked, alarm bells going off in her mind, her maternal instincts going into overdrive.

Jason nodded and said quietly, "She does look a lot like you.. Just like your sisters do.. It's the hair and eyes." as he handed the photo back.

Could it possibly be true?

Could Lila actually be alive after all this time?


	2. Chapter 1 Pt 2

They sat in the park for what seemed like hours. It was hours, actually.. It was at least two when she finally stood and held out her hand, pulled Rafe lazily off of the picnic table he was sitting on top of currently, where she'd been sitting a few moments before.

"What? Think I cant pull ya off?" Annika asked as Rafe shrugged. She grabbed his hand, and he assisted so she'd think she did it on her own. She scowled at him and he shrugged then laughed. She frogged his arm and then said quietly, "Tonight was kinda nice, Kovich."

"It was." Rafe agreed as he looked at Annika and admitted, "I'm glad I ran into you.. You kept me from doing something really stupid."

"What? It might be fun, we can still do it." Annika joked as he shook his head and answered, "Nope.. It almost killed me before. I promised my uncle I was going to get clean." as Annika nodded her head and remarked, "Wouldn't know. Only thing I really have an addiction to is fighting and swearing." with a mild shrug as she looked up at the moon a few moments.

"I'd sleep in the park if I could."

"Why though?" Rafe asked, curious as to what was so bad that she obviously dreaded going back to her house. He watched her intently as she leaned against the light pole nearby, crossed her arms and began shuffling her feet before finally murmuring, "Just stuff, okay, Rafe? It's peaceful out here."

"And it's not where you live?" Rafe guessed as he looked at her. The look in her eyes said it all and a few things about her behavior as opposed to the average teenage girls began to click into place. And he found himself concerned for her.

"Not really, no.. I mean it is when she's passed out and shut the fuck up." Annika admitted in a blunt and solemn tone of voice as she bit her thumbnail and said quietly, "Don't worry though.. I mean it's not your thing, we barely know each other."

"It's still wrong."

"And I can handle me, okay? I know how to sneak out and hide if she's too out of control." Annika said as she bit her lower lip and wondered why in the hell she'd bothered opening her mouth in the first place if she didn't want to be thrown back into foster care.

She was only sixteen, she still had another year at best before she was considered a legal adult. And she knew that if she just let it ride for this year.. If she just kept her shit together for another twelve months..

She'd be home free and she'd be able to walk away whenever she wanted. And nobody could do a damn thing.

"Sorry, sheesh."

"It's okay.. I just.. I didn't admit that for you to go all worried on me. Don't tell anybody."

He studied her a moment. He wasn't sure if not telling was such a good idea. But she didn't seem to be scared or anything, so he said quietly, "Only if you promise me one thing.." and waited.

"I barely know you, Kovich. Don't have to promise you anything." Annika said through gritted teeth as her stomach fluttered a little.. She'd sort of noticed little things about him while they'd been hanging out tonight.. The way his eyes smiled when he did.. And the dimple.. And his dry sense of humor..

Not to mention he was taller and had dark hair and she was a sucker for guys with both of those things.

And they seemed to have a lot in common, this unspoken kindred spirit sort of thing.

"Just hear me out.. If she ever scares you, talk to someone." Rafe asked as she studied him a moment and then shrugging muttered quietly, "Okay, alright, Kovich, shit."

Something told him she wouldn't do it. She seemed to have this air of stubborn pride about her. Another quality she had that reminded him of Molly.

Yeah, he had to admit, he definitely had a type.

But she seemed to be more of a good girl pretending to be tough than Molly did.

"So we're good.. You'll tell someone?" he asked as she looked at him and said "Only if you promise me somethin too, Kovich.."

"What?"

"If you feel like using, find somebody or something to do. Drugs and shit.. They're the worst thing you can do to yourself." Annika mumbled as she stared at him a few moments and then nudged him in the ribs gently. "So.. Are you walkin me back to the building or..."

"Yeah, it is really, really late."

"And I'm too damn short to reach the fire escape ladder I'm gonna have to climb to sneak into my room." Annika admitted sheepishly as he laughed.

"Haha.. How's the air up there anyway, Kovich? Bet you get sick of bumping your damn head on fans and doorways. Us short people though.. We're fun sized."

The statement made him cough because he'd noticed how pretty she was in ways and naturally, his teenage brain took it the wrong way.

The walk to her apartment was silent`and after he pulled down the ladder for her and made sure she made it safely up, he walked back to his uncle's apartment, fell into bed. He'd definitely have to get to know her better, that much he knew beyond a doubt.

Across town, Sam McCall Morgan sat in her study staring at her laptop screen. The picture sat near the laptop and every now and then she'd glance down at it, the smirking teenage girl no older than her youngest sister Molly. She found herself wondering of Molly or maybe even one of Molly's friends knew this girl.

And if she'd finally be getting a chance to get her daughter back.

What was Annika Connor, or Lila as Sam stubbornly insisted on calling her mentally, really like?

If she actually was Lila, that is..

Sam was confident that with her determination and Jason's help she'd know the answer soon enough.. And she found herself both excited and determined not to get her hopes up.

After all, this could be another one of Franco's sick jokes.


	3. Chapter 2 Pt 1

She slid into her seat next to him in A&P the next morning almost a whole ten minutes late. Despite his better efforts, Rafe had been worrying about her, especially in light of what she'd told him the night before when they were sprawled out on top of that picnic table under the stars down at the park. He tapped her and gave her a concerned look.

Annika shrugged and said in a whisper, "Slept late, okay?" as she opened her books, careful to keep the black eye hidden. Her adoptive mother had been furious with her when she caught her sneaking in at almost 2. So she'd gotten punched in the face. She didn't want Rafe seeing it because she'd stupidly told him a little of the situation the night before in confidence. She hadn't expected the guy to worry about her, really. She figured that he'd go back to pining away over Molly Lansing Davis like rumor had it he had been for a while now.

It was kinda sad really, Molly was a nice girl, but obviously she was serious and committed to TJ, another guy in their class currently. And Rafe was one hell of a guy, drug addiction aside.

At least he'd been a decent human being to her the night before in the park and he'd obviously worried about her this morning when she'd gotten to school late, trying to cover the damn bruise her adoptive mother left.

Rafe saw the bluish tint to her skin around her eye and he tapped her shoulder again. She wouldn't look up and he leaned in and whispered, "What happened?"

"I'm a fucking klutz." Annika lied as she held her breath and prayed to God above he'd let it go. She didn't want to be shipped off to the foster homes she'd been in before again. She only had a few more months. One year and she'd be home free.

Rafe, however, wasn't buying it. "I thought you said she didn't really do things that'd hurt you."

"I snuck out, Kovich, did you really think I was gonna get off without some form of punishment?" Annika hissed urgently as she looked at him for a few moments, pleading him with her eyes not to say anything to anyone. He studied her just as intently as she looked at him and finally said "Yeah, but she could've grounded you, Annika. Not hit you and left a bruise like that."

"So maybe I mouthed off." Annika lied as he shook his head and said quietly, "She sounded too drunk to function on the phone last night when she called when I was walking you back to your apartment. Even mouthing off shouldn't have gotten you that."

"Yeah? Well since my adoptive father died, Rafe, that's just how shit works in that house. She never wanted to adopt me, okay? She makes damn sure I know it every chance she gets. I snuck out, she punished me, that's that. Can we please stop talking about this?" Annika begged as he muttered "Fine.. But I still say that you don't deserve that."

She shrugged and got back to work, keeping as busy and as quiet as possible. The less she talked to him, the easier it would be to keep herself from starting to like him just a little too much. Liking someone a little too much was never a good thing. Even if the person, like Rafe, was totally worthy of the like and made it easy as hell for things like that to happen.

He was a sweet guy. She could just look at him and tell. He treated people like people. Sure he had his problems and his flaws but.. He didn't treat people (especially her) like shit. The teacher interrupted her thoughts by pointing out her tardiness and she rolled her eyes as she managed to respond, "I slept late. Didn't think it'd matter."

"You didn't think it'd matter?"

"No sir, not really."

"If you carry that attitude through life, Annika, you're never going to amount to anything." the teacher mused as he asked in annoyance, "Do you at least have a note?" as she shook her head.

"Homework?" he asked as she shuffled through her notebook and dug out the assignment. It was probably all done wrong, of course, but she couldn't honestly concentrate last night, her adoptive mother boozing and partying in the next room with a few of her male friends. Annika had gotten used to it, the parties every night.

It was like the woman didn't even miss her dead husband which for Annika wasn't a big stretch to imagine, her adoptive mother was always a bit selfish. Unless there was something in it for her, she wasn't interested in being a good person.

She took the assignment to the teacher and flopped back down into her chair. She could feel Rafe's eyes boring holes into her but she didn't look up. When he tapped her and slipped something into her hand, she looked down long enough to see that it was a cell phone number, his apparently. He leaned in and whispered in her ear, "If it happens again, Annika.. Call me." as she studied him a few moments.

He barely knew her, what made him honestly give a damn?

Rafe studied her intently and then leaned in a few moments later and added, "I might be a lot of things but I'm not someone who will sit back and watch his friends go through hell." as she looked at him and blinked. He watched her when she looked back down and wondered why it had to be this one girl?

He'd noticed her when she moved to Port Charles. But he hadn't spoken until last night because she never actually appeared to be interested in talking to anyone. And she was a little jumpy most of the time. But he believed that fate intervened sometimes, that they crossed paths last night in the Rib for a reason. He'd been at one of the lower points he'd hit yet in his recovery from addiction, from the wreck that almost ended his life. He'd been about to slip right back into old habits.

She'd obviously needed someone to talk to, something to do to keep her out of her adoptive mother's hair. Judging by the bruise on her face this morning, Rafe felt horrible that he hadn't actually hung around beyond making sure she made it safely up the fire escape ladder. Because if he had and he'd seen Annika's mom hurting her he could have stopped it or something.

He cared about people. And he'd started to form a bit of a crush on her since she'd moved to town. At first he'd thought it was because she looked a lot like Molly. However, the night before, when they talked til almost 2, he'd realized it was because she was nothing at all like Molly. And up close she honestly didn't look as much like Molly as he'd originally thought. She had fuller lips, greenish flecks in her bright brown eyes, a mole above her lip and a scar on her forehead that she usually kept covered by bangs.

Last night made him realize that the crush he'd developed on the mysterious new girl at PCH was nothing to do with her resemblance to Molly, the girl he'd thought he loved. He'd been not speaking to Annika because he figured ignoring the crush he had would sort of just make things easier. That he liked her just because he couldn't have Molly.

And then their paths crossed last night and they'd gotten to know each other a whole lot better. They were a lot alike but they had a lot of things different too.

The bell ringing caught his attention and he'd turned to say something, to ask her if she wanted to walk to her next class with him, but as usual she was already out of the room. She tended to bolt for the door wide open the second the bell to end a class period rang he'd noticed. He spotted her running down the hall and he caught up to her, tapped her shoulder. "I have gym now.. It's in the same place you're heading.. If you wanna walk together?" he asked casually as she looked at him a few moments.

Annika was having a hard time figuring out if Rafe was taking 'pity' on her because of her situation or if he actually liked her, flaws and antisocial nature and all.. They'd talked about any and everything the night before and she wanted to get closer to him but at the same time.. She was afraid to do it. What if she messed things up?

What if he got to actually know her and like so many others, he realized she wasn't someone he wanted to be around a whole lot?

"If you want." she said finally as she looked at him a few moments and asked silently, "Just don't tell anybody about the stuff I told you.. I only got a few more months then I'm out of there.. Already been in the system once, not anxious to go back either. Every foster family I lived with, both times I was in.. They were the worst, Kovich. I mean they make Meia look like a saint." as she shivered and rubbed her arms, bit her lower lip and stared up at him intently.

"I won't tell.. But I want you to call me if it happens again. There's gotta be something I can do." Rafe said as Annika laughed a few seconds then said quietly, with a shake of her head, "Not really, no. Life's not all sunshine and daisies, Kovich. And I am glad you wanna help but I'm.. Maybe I bring this stuff on myself?" she mused as they made their way across campus.

The rain lightly drizzled them and she grumbled. "I fucking don't like rainy days." she kicked at loose gravel as they made their way to the auditorium and gym. He had gym and she had Intro to Theater. She was, by definition, a drama geek. Among many other assorted forms of nerdery, not limited to comics, science, reading..

But she loved theater because for a little while she could sort of step out of herself and pretend to be someone else. Someone better.. Someone happier. Anything but herself.

For a little while she didn't have to worry about what shape her adoptive mother would be in when she came in from school that afternoon.

"Me either." Rafe commented as he noticed her shivering a little. He shrugged out of his jacket, held it out. "So you don't get soaked.. Don't you always bring that jacket with all the pockets?"

"Yeah but stupid me.. ran out of the apartment earlier, left it and everything else in it at home." Annika muttered as he looked at her and then asked, "Are you going to be in that play Drama club is doing? I heard it was like a musical or something."

"Maybe, maybe not. Not if they do some lame thing. I mean we're voting on what play we'll actually do today.. So we can s tart holding audtions.. Why? Wanna join the freaks, jock?" as she looked up at him, eyes shining with amusement and mirth. Rafe chuckled and shrugged as he gave her a slight smirk and said "Maybe, maybe not."

"You should. That way I'd have somebody to laugh with when that skeezy perv Willie tries to hit on one of the cheer nazis and gets slapped for his efforts." Annika joked as they stood in front of their classrooms.

"This is me."

"And in I go. I'll see you later.. Something." Annika mumbled as she hurriedly darted into the classroom just as the tardy bell rang. Rafe mumbled to himself, "Definitely, Annika." as he ducked into the gym. He had nothing but an entire period of thinking to do. Due to his injuries from the wreck, the secret about his drug addiction coming out he wouldn't be suiting up with the rest of the basketball team to practice.

And that's exactly what he did.. He spent the next hour or so sitting and thinking about the best way to get his newest friend out of her very bad situation. Maybe he could talk to Sam.. She'd signed to become his foster mother.. And Jason had been cool with it.. Maybe if he told them the situation, explained that she might let someone do something to help her get away from her mom's violence if Sam was the one who took her in and not some strangers..

Well, to Annika they would be.. But Rafe trusted them completely. And he didn't want Annika having to leave, not before he really knew her. By the time the bell did ring he'd made up his mind.. He'd get Molly to talk to Sam about being a foster again. He was still too ashamed of himself and the things he'd done while addicted to drugs to go there and ask himself.. But Molly was his friend and a genuinely good person.. She'd do it for him, especially when he explained the entirety of the circumstances.

If not?

He'd bite back his shame at his actions thanks to his addiction and go over there, apologize for the things he'd done to get high, the ways he might have hurt anyone, including Sam and then he'd beg if he had to.

Because there was just something about Annika that drew him even more to her than there had been about Molly. Maybe this was it, this was the real thing.. It was kinda scary, after all.


	4. Chapter 2 Pt 2

She made her way into the garage quietly, set to work laying out the tools Jason needed to complete the bike he was building completely custom for a customer in Naples, Italy. Jason noticed when she slunk in, of course, the room filled with music, even if neither of them spoke that much. He noticed also that she was wearing sunglasses which made him raise a brow, finally ask in a calm and concerned voice, "You okay?"

"I'm good, sir.. I umm.. I ran into a door?" Annika said as she bit her lower lip. She'd gotten to know this man, Jason Morgan, over the course of the past few weeks. He was an adult she could trust. Even knowing this, however, did nothing in her resolve to not tell, to continue suffering in silence. She remembered after all, all the horrors she'd endured the few times she'd been placed in the foster system by now and she was determined, more determined than she'd ever been about anything in her entire life to not go back into the system.

Jason eyed the girl while her back was turned. Her voice had been shaky when she answered. He saw her eyes darting around the shop. All tells of a lie. And he knew first hand, from having seen with his own two eyes, heard with his own two ears the time Meia, the girls adoptive mother came in, drunk and ranting and raving at Annika that Meia might not be a totally sane woman.

And that she looked to be the type who maybe got a little too hands on when it came to discipline. Annika showed signs of having been abused in the past, and knowing that she might just be Lila, the daughter Sam thought died, that he could very well be her stepfather, he'd almost been listed on her birth certificate as her father until Sonny showed his ass about it at the last minute.. Well.. He felt more than the usual obligatory amount of concern towards the girl.

Not only that but in the entire time he'd known the girl now she just reminded him so much of a younger version of Sam. And he felt really, really bad knowing what was suspected right now, but not being able to say or do anything to get Annika out of there. They'd turned over the package to PCPD and Lucky, Sam's ex, and a not so close friend of Jason's currently was looking into things, trying to help Sam gather evidence to either prove or disprove the declaration that the package sent about Annika made.

Jason, however, wanted nothing more than to get involved, actively get this girl out of the home she was being forced to live in. The tug he felt towards her was more than enough proof for him but he knew that in the eyes of the law, unfortunately.. It wouldn't be enough at all to remove Annika from the woman named Meia's home and reunite Annika with her real family, give Sam back her daughter.

The process, if not rushed, which they were doing, could take an agonizingly long time. And knowing that Annika was suffering during the process. He texted Sam and explained the bruise he'd seen on Annika's face almost the same instant that Sam opened the door to the penthouse she shared with Jason and found Rafe Kovich Jr and her sister Molly, Molly's boyfriend TJ standing there.

TJ looked at Rafe and nodded then asked, "Well?"

"She asked me not to tell anyone, man." Rafe insisted, suddenly not sure whether he was doing the right thing.. If he told Sam and she told someone else and they told the police and Annika had to leave..

_'You're older. Get her and run for a while.. A few months at least. Then you can come back when she's legally an adult and nobody can make her go back.' _one part of his mind argued while the other more rational side questioned, **'Let's review here, Rafe.. You two barely know each other. Yeah you have a huge crush on her right now.. But do you really think she'd go on the run with you? She barely trusts you or anyone else for that matter, now. And if you tell.. You could lose a chance to get to know her for good.'**

"Rafe", Molly said as she nudged him, got him to look at her and then nodded towards Sam as she added, "Tell her, okay? It's not like Sam will tell.. She won't if you explain why you don't want her to. You trust Sam."

Sam looked on at the three teenagers with a bit of confusion. Finally, they asked to come inside and TJ and Molly sat, holding Danny in between them while Rafe paced the floor, his hand in his hair as he said "I'm sorry.. For all the crap I did while I was addicted to drugs. I'm sorry if I hurt or disappointed you or Jason.. I'll pay you back the 500.00 I stole, I swear. I just.. I came by here to day because there's this girl.. At PCH.."

"Yeah?" Sam asked as she watched Rafe pacing, sat down with Molly and TJ, TJ explained quietly, "He's got it bad for this girl.. She's a new student who transferred in from Vegas.. Bunch of us were thinking it was just a rebound thing and then this afternoon he comes to me and Molly in Kelly's Diner, tells us this.. He wants to help her but he doesn't want to risk her being sent away or something."

"What's going on?" Sam asked, eyeing Rafe expectantly as she waited on an answer she damned well better get from the teen male. Rafe nodded to TJ and said "He told you most of it.. Thing is.. Annika lives with this woman Meia.. Meia's not her real mom.. And Meia's an alcoholic.. She's told Annika that she wishes her husband never bought her home or something.."

Sam listened intently. Annika? Was it the same Annika that was in the picture on her desk in her home office right now? Annika as in the girl who could be her previously thought to be dead daughter, Lila?

If this Meia woman was even laying a hand on her kid.. Sam bit her cheek as she thought about things, tried to stay rational and just listen to what Rafe was saying to her. She could tell that whatever he was trying to say was upsetting to him. He was nervous, pacing and overall just in a shifty demeanor.

"Rafe, tell Sam what you told us." Molly tried to reason with her friend as Rafe said quietly, "She told me that Meia gets drunk and says that kind of stuff.. But what she didn't tell me, but I'm pretty sure is going on is that Meia is also hitting and hurting Annika.. She came to school with a black eye today and earlier this week, she was arm wrestling with TJ's friend Andrew in gym, just goofing off and TJ said when she rolled up her sleeve he saw all these old scars on her inner arm."

Sam was livid now.. If this girl **was** her daughter that she'd grieved over for so long and this woman was doing all of this to her.. When she found this woman, she'd shoot first and ask questions later.

"And you came to me.." Sam started as Molly nudged Rafe again and TJ nodded then said "Just ask, man.. Worst she can say is no.." which Rafe muttered something, annoyed at TJ even being there.. But Molly was a trusted best friend of his and TJ was her boyfriend, so out of common decency, he was trying to put their rocky past behind them and maybe attempt being the guy's friend. Now that he knew he liked Annika for who she was not who he thought previously she reminded him of, it was surprisingly easier.. Granted, it still came with moments like now when all he wanted to do was tell the guy to pipe down and let him work around to asking what he'd come to ask.

"I was wondering if you'd take it to court and try and be her foster mom too?" Rafe asked finally, held his breath as he waited, drumming his feet against the thick cream colored area rug that covered the surface of the hardwood floor in the den.

"I want to meet her." Sam said after a few silent moments of thought.

"She works at the garage with Jason after school. I've seen her go in there every day for about a week now." Rafe admitted. Sam studied him intently.. Maybe he had feelings for Annika?

She wasn't sure, in light of everything he'd been through and done while addicted to drugs, how she might feel about that if Annika did indeed turn out to be Lila. She texted Jason back and explained that she was coming by the garage. And when Jason texted back, she realized that Rafe was telling the truth, that he was really, really concerned.

Jason had seen the bruise too.

"Will you? I mean I know I have like, no right to ask anything.." Rafe started as Sam said quietly, "You're trying to straighten out now. And I know what you were going through. I've done bad things before too.. I have to talk to Jason about it, okay?" as she looked at Rafe who nodded, she noticed her looked a little more relieved than he had when he'd walked into the penthouse moments before.

"She's really nice. I mean she can be snarky, she gets into fights at school a lot but I've met her a few times.. I just.. I kinda feel like we have this connection." Molly said to Sam after she got Sam off to one side and explained things a little better, explained that Rafe had a huge crush on this girl and he was worried about her. "I think he's finally moving on.. I saw him with her today when I met TJ after school at Kelly's.. She actually made him laugh." Molly said as Sam asked, "What do you mean you feel a connection to her?"

"Well, this girl at Madison confused me with her one time, so we look alike sort of.. Her eyes are kinda greener brown though.. Kinda like Uncle Sonny's, actually.." Molly said as she bit her lower lip and looked at her older sister then asked, "What's wrong, Sam?"

"I'll explain things when I can.. Maybe, Molly, there's a reason you feel some kind of connection to this girl.. How well do you know her?"

"Not really well at all.. She really doesn't talk much around me.. I think she knows that Rafe used to like me a lot and she's kinda wary now as a result. She likes him, I think." Molly answered as she asked, "Why?"

"Like I said.. I'll explain things later." Sam said as she hugged her sister and said "Get to know her.. From the sound of it, she needs all the friends she can get." as she thought to herself, _'And if she is Lila? This Meia woman will die.. Or at the very least I will get my hands on her too.' _and walked to the door letting the three teenagers out.

Once the door was shut Rafe wondered aloud, "Was it just me or was Sam really concerned and angry just now?" as TJ nodded in agreement and Molly said aloud, "Something's up.. All Sam would tell me is that once she could explain what was going on and why what you told her was happening to Annika made her so angry that she would."

"Let's just hope to God she doesn't go to the cops." Rafe muttered as he began making a backup plan, just to be sa fe. Maybe it wouldn't come to it. He hoped it wouldn't. But something had to be done, he wasn't just going to sit back and let Annika keep getting hurt and treated like dirt.


	5. Chapter 3

Jason read the text that Sam sent him in response to the one he'd sent her thirty minute prior about Annika having a new bruise today for the second or third time in a little under a week. And asking her if she'd gotten any leads as to whether Annika was possibly Lila, that Lila had been taken from the hospital so they could do something and get her the hell out of that house she was living in..

Apparently, he wasn't the only one who'd seen the bruises or noticed the way she acted all the time. Rafe had too and Rafe went to Sam in an attempt to get Sam to take on another foster child earlier this week and they'd discussed it nonstop since, both agreeing that the newest bruise, which Rafe had shown Sam pictures of just this afternoon, was all the solid proof they needed to take steps and file to become foster parents again, at least until they discovered if Annika was actually Lila like they were beginning to suspect more and more each time either of them saw her out and about with Rafe or Molly and TJ..

Jason had mixed feelings about Annika (or Lila, if she turned out to be Lila, he had this feeling about her, about the package he and Sam recieved) being mixed up with Rafe, especially in the light of the fact that Rafe had recently been discovered to be addicted to drugs, that he'd been high as a kite when he crashed into the car being driven by Patrick Drake with his family inside, head on.

Sure, Nina had put the kid up to crashing, but still.. The kid wasn't known for being a good kid. He'd gotten into and out of trouble more times than Jason could count on either of his two hands since Rafe hit town.

And if Annika was Lila, which Jason strongly suspected she was for whatever reason, as her stepfather he just wasn't sure how he was gonna feel about her seeing the kid.. Or even being friends with him. Before he could reply back, however, he saw three men in black outfits slinking into the shop. He knew them all, they were from the Jerome organization, or whomever Julian was working for. Lately, Sonny and Julian's unknown boss were in a bit of a power struggle of sorts, they'd attacked several ships Sonny owned at the docks, they'd sabotaged the coffee house and now, apparently, they were going after the garage that Jason and Shawn Butler co-owned.

"All this because some unknown dipshit wants a piece of the pie." Jason grumbled as he tapped Annika on the shoulder, waited until she got the earphone out of her ear and said firmly, "Get in the back room. Lock the door and no matter what you hear, do not come out. I repeat, Annika, do not come out here. This is grown up stuff." while mentally adding, _'And if you are Lila, and Sonny is your father, kid, and I wind up adopting you like I'd originally planned before someone stole you and made your mom think you were dead and gone to us, it's a sad fact of life that you'll have to adjust to.. Because people who wanna get to Sonny or me? They always go through our families to do it.'_ while pointing to the door of the back area of the garage. He knew she'd be safe in there, Shawn had gotten the highest of high tech security equipment installed in that room when they'd opened the doors to this place.

That was one really good thing he could say about the man, he was nothing if not practical.

Annika looked at Jason, panic washed over her for a moment. This man was like a temporary father figure to her, he'd become that in the short time she'd been living in Port Charles and working after school at the garage with Jason and his friend Shawn. She knew that the mob was active in Port Charles and she knew that Jason and Shawn were both hitmen for the Corinthos organization.

Danger didn't actually scare her. What did, however, was something happening to this man that she'd come to think of as a temporary father figure. So she nodded, so he'd feel at ease and do what he had to, but she made a plan in her mind to try and do whatever she had to to keep him from being hurt or even killed.

Herself as well was included in this because the brunette teenager liked her life, loved herself very much, even when she didn't seem to act as if she did with some of the choices she made.

Once she was in the back room, she punched in the code and started opening cabinets and drawers looking for any form of a weapon to arm herself just in case. And she checked her cell phone.. If this was a mob shootout she knew it could go on at least a good hour or two tops.. She'd seen enough mob movies to know that.

Nevermind that her only real knowledge of the mob was from movies which made being a mobster look cool. She had to have something to go on. She hit paydirt, weapon wise when she opened the locker that belonged to Shawn via her trusty lock pick that was on her dirtbike keyring which she'd luckily left in her pocket and not hidden in the secret compartment on her dirtbike parked in the alley behind the garage.

The gun sat there, box of shells beside it. She bit her lower lip and sighing said " Whatever happens.. They can't hurt that guy.. And they're damn sure not hurting me. It's not enough I go through that shit at Meia's when she's drunk and angry at me for whatever. Not gonna put up with that shit in my sanctuary."

Her phone's screen lit up as the first of quite a few rapid fire shots rang out from the front of the shop. She crouched low as a bullet shattered the glass in the window looking out into the front of the shop and looked at the cell phone screen. It was a text from Rafe asking if she was gonna be done working soon. That he needed to talk to her.

She hesitated a moment, wincing and shivering all over as the gunshots sounded loudly off of the concrete walls of the garage's front area. When the glass shattered in the second 'windowpane' of the office she swore and bit her tongue, scrambled under the desk, fitting herself into the legspace beneath after grabbing the gun and the bullets from the top of the desk. With the phone in her nervously shaking hands she texted Rafe back, "I will ttyl, kinda busy, atm" before hurriedly dialing 911 and hanging up.

"Hope to God that the movies are right, that if I dial 911 and hang up they'll track the location of the phone number the call came from and send a squad car or at least call back." Annika muttered as she clicked the handgun off safety and held it in her hands, ready, heart beating out of her chest almost.

Out in the front of the garage, one of Julian's men made a move to go past one of the men Shawn and Jason had helping them even the field during this shootout and Jason saw the direction the man's eyes looked in. His heart sped up and without hesitation he raised the gun again and fired a few rounds off into the man, the man slumped forward, fell to the floor.

There was no way in hell Jason was letting Annika get hurt. Even if she turned out not to be Lila, she was just a kid. He'd known it was a bad idea to hire her in the first place given the tensions between the Jerome organization and the Corinthos organization, but something about the girl and her persistance and the way she looked so lost.. It'd went straight through his ice like defenses and resonated in his soul.

Shawn made his way to the office area, punched in the key code quickly, intent on getting more ammo for his gun and dialing PCPD if he had to, his former girlfriend, who he now knew was a Fed if he couldn't do anything else.

He wanted to do neither thing but like the time TJ had been caught in the crossfire, there was a kid to think about.

"You in here, kid?"

He spotted her scuffed converses from beneath the desk, saw her tapping her feet, and upon closer inspection, squeezing her eyes shut and covering her ears from all the noises.

He took the handgun in her lap and the bullets and she said quietly, "It's loaded already. Just gimme that tire tool, just in case."

"I got a better idea." Shawn said as he eyed the door that lead out of the garage. Jason staggered in, holding his shoulder, swearing as he got down low and hissed, "Hit the back door, Annika. Get home and don't look back. It was a bad idea to hire you to work here after school." as she gaped at him and shook her head fearfully.

"GO!" Jason commanded as the next round of gunfire broke out and he raised quickly, shot a few rounds from his own weapon and ducked back down just in time to keep from getting a shot to the back.

Annika shook her head and stayed put. For whatever reason, she was determined not to leave this man. He was the only caring and loyal (although grumpy as hell most times) adult she had in her life. If something happened to him, she'd never have a safe haven to escape from her adoptive mother Meia's crap again.

Jason Morgan, for every sense of the word, was the father she never got to actually have. She felt this strange connection to him, to the picture of his wife and son that sat on his desk in the office. She looked eerily similar to Jason's wife, she noticed once or twice, but she never said anything.

"Carry her outta here, Butler. I'm gonna hold off the guys a little longer.. Where the fuck are PCPD when you actually fucking need them, huh?" Jason swore in the heat of the moment as Shawn picked up the light weight teenage girl and carried her out the back, into the alley.

"Go, kid. If I were you? I'd find a normal afterschool job.. You coulda died here today." Shawn scolded firmly as Annika bit her lower lip and looked at him, winced and shook all over like a leaf. A badass female she might be.. But living through a mob shootout?

Not something she'd ever actually placed on her bucketlist.

More shots rang out around the same time the police car sirens filled the late evening air as they pulled to a speedy stop in front of the garage. She came alive then, the shock wore off and she took off at a flying run almost, in the heat of the moment forgetting even about her trusty dirtbike sitting in the alley.

She turned a corner and collided with Rafe, knocking him down, landing on top of him. The first thing Rafe noticed was that she looked like she was about to cry and she was freaking out. He sat up and looked at her, heard the sirens and asked "What the hell happened?"

"Well.. Let's just say if I wanted to live through a mafia shootout, Kovich, I just got the opportunity to cross that off my bucket list." Annika replied numb with shock as she said quietly, "Jason.. He's still in there.. I gotta go back.. I gotta make sure the cops know there are two men in there, marooned in the back. I left my dirtbike, it scared the living shit out of me.. I gotta go back, Rafe, let me go.. I have to get my dirtbike." Annika insisted as she tried to stand but Rafe applied pressure, kept her sitting in his lap, used a hand to gently shove her head down between his neck and shoulder.

"We'll get your dirtbike later, okay? Let's go back to my uncle's apartment or to the park.. We just have to get you the hell away from here right now, okay?" Rafe said as he looked at her with concern. She tried to fight his arms down, stand up and run back but he picked her up and ran with her in the opposite direction and didn't stop running until they reached the park, then he sat her down on a picnic table and after spotting Morgan Corinthos nearby, waved him over and pulled a balled up wad of money out of his pocket, shoved it into Morgan's hand as he said "She kinda just got the living hell scared out of her.. Get her a drink, would ya?"

"Was she down at the garage? I know Jason said he hired a girl to work there after school.. I wondered why he did it.." Morgan asked as Rafe nodded and then said "Shootout or something man.. All I know is she ran into me and we fell down and she's scared shitless right now."

Morgan looked at the balled up money in his hand and then at Rafe. He knew through Molly and recent events that Rafe had been an addict.. Was this drug money?

"Just go get the drink, Morgan." Rafe pleaded as he looked at the older male a few moments. Morgan gave a nod and went to get the drink as Rafe asked him and Rafe turned his attention back to Annika then asked, "Are you calming down now?"

She gave him a dirty look and took a few deep breaths as she said quietly, "Lost my job at the garage.. This afternoon spooked them I think."

"And it didn't spook you?"

"I was more worried about Jason Morgan, okay? He's kinda... I can't explain it exactly. Have you ever just wished you could pick your parents, Rafe?" Annika asked quietly as she worked on calming herself and looked at him, waited on an answer.

Rafe looked at his hands and mused solemnly, "I love my mom.. Wouldn't have traded her for anything.. But my real dad? Yeah, I wish I could change that.. I mean sometimes I wish my uncle Silas was my real father."

"I wish Jason Morgan was mine. He's a decent guy. I just.. I sort of relate to him." Annika said as she stared at Rafe a few moments, said quietly, "Hell of an afternoon.. What did you want to talk to me about?" as he shook his head.

When she'd crashed into him and knocked them both down, his quest to go find his old dealer and do something really stupid had been shelved and forgotten. "I..I was.. I wanted to get high.. I was doing what you made me promise." Rafe explained quietly as Annika nodded and looked at him a few moments, asked in concern, "You didn't though, right?"

"I was actually pretty damn close to finding my old dealer when you crashed into me. I just.. Today was hell, I mean all the crap at school, I argued with uncle Silas earlier, some other shit.. I'm.. I'm sorry, okay?" he muttered as she leaned against him warily and said quietly, "It is what it is, Kovich.. Nobody said quitting an addiction is easy."

"And nobody said you are obligated to put yourself right in the middle of a shootout either." Rafe pointed out as she gave him another dirty look and said quietly, "Tell anyone I cried Kovich, it'll be your doom."

"Not saying a word.. It's okay to cry and freak out though, Annika."

"I hate it though. It makes me feel weak and powerless. Like I cannot control anything. I hate being out of control." Annika admitted as she bit her lower lip and they watched the cop cars leaving the garage.

"We'll get your dirtbike after the shop closes. Maybe Jason will let you in really quick." Rafe said as she nodded and continued to lean against her best guy friend (who she was sadly f alling head over heels in love with currently) and said quietly, "Yeah. I just hope he and Shawn are okay."

"They've got experience with that stuff.. You don't.. You're okay, right?" he asked as he looked at her, noticed bits of broken glass that were peppering her hair, making it sort of glitter when the sun hit it. He leaned forward, picked a few out and said quietly with a cough, "You umm.. You had glass dust in your hair."

"It kinda happens when you're sitting under a window that gets shot out.. State of the art security and the man doesn't get bullet proof glass?" Annika muttered as she looked up at Rafe and just stared into his eyes a few moments getting mesmerized by the forest green of them.

"I talked to my old foster mom earlier this week.. About you." he admitted finally as he looked at her and waited.

"Oh."

Her stomach churned nervously. What if this damn woman went to the cops with what Rafe told her? She mentally prepared herself to go on the run if she had to.. Just long e nough to evade CPS.

"She's talking to Jason about it. Jason is her husband." Rafe said as Annika mulled this new information over. She looked up at Rafe and said quietly, "Damn it, Kovich.. Told you to keep it to yourself."

"And when you came to school with another burn mark on your arm and that bruise, Annika, I decided that keeping it to myself wasn't worth you going through all that." Rafe admitted stubbornly as she bit her l ower lip and asked, "Well?"

"She hasn't said anything yet.. But if she goes to PCPD, Annika.. I'll think of something.. I mean I did promise you I wouldn't tell, it would be my fault you'd have to go back into the system. I'll do something and you won't have to." Rafe admitted as he slid his jacket off, put it around her.

"I'll run if I have to, Kovich.. It'll just be a few months at best.. Not like I can't make it on my damn own a few months if she goes to the cops instead of keeping it quiet." Annika said through gritted teeth as she thought about having to leave..

Having to leave Rafe. They were becoming each other's support system as of late. And she was really starting to fall for him and hard. It was scary but it was happening and she could not stop it. If she had to leave.. Would she ever see him again?


	6. Chapter 4

With shaky hands, he climbed the ladder to the fire escape. Like earlier in the day, the urge was back again and it was much worse this time. Normally he'd wind up with Molly and TJ but now that he had this crush or whatever on Annika, he just felt better, less likely to use around her. And he was worried about her. She'd been really, really shaken up earlier after the shootout at the garage.

He paced the platform a few seconds before lightly knocking on the window. A few moments later it slid open, Annika peered out at him wearing an oversized long sleeve flannel shirt, eyes almost shining with curiousity as she asked quietly, "Rafe.. Are you alright?" when she noticed the shaking of his hands, the way he just could not stand still. He shook his head and Annika stepped aside, let him into her room and closed the window behind her, turned to him.

Rafe looked around her room, just taking in his surroundings. He was shocked to find a few stuffed animals around the room. The tv was paused on a Dawson's Creek rerun and there was a box of tissues sitting on the nightstand. He raked his hand slowly over his dark hair and looked at her, he debated on whether to snicker at the strangeness of what he'd obviously just interrupted.

"Like self torture?" he joked finally as she shrugged quietly, wiggled into some leggings and sat down on the edge of her bed as she looked at him. "Rafe, you're shaking. Are you? I mean did you? Did you go buy drugs and get high again?" her eyes filled with concern as she asked him this and she held his gaze intently.

She noticed that there was a little dried blood on his lip and she asked, "Okay, talk. Now." as he looked at his hands and said quietly, "One of my old dealers found me.. I owed him money.. This kinda happens when you get addicted and you have no money to pay for it. It's okay, really."

"Rafe, no it's fucking not." Annika said as he looked at her, then around the room. She paced a little, hand winding slowly through long and sleep tangled hair before fixing her eyes intently back on him. "You worried about me, okay? Let me worry about you.. I mean you keep saying we're friends.. Well, if that's true, I'm gonna worry." Annika said as she quietly made her way into the kitchen of her adoptive mother's apartment, came back a few seconds later with ice in a ziploc bag for his busted lip as well as things needed to clean it out, get the blood off of it, what little there was.

"You don't have to, okay? I did what I did on my own. You can't help this situation that you're in. I wish Sam would hurry up and say she'd be your foster parent or something." Rafe admitted and he genuinely meant it too. He hated knowing she was stuck here basically.

Granted, she didn't have much longer to be stuck in the situation.

"I'm your friend, damn it. I mean that's what you keep saying at least. If I want to worry about stuff you got yourself into, Kovich, I will." Annika asserted as she sat down on his knees, started working on his busted lip. "So.. You watch dramatic tv show reruns while eating ben and jerry's in secret. You have a pale pink room and you have stuffed animals. What else don't I know about you? I mean you keep insisting that we're friends also, Annika.." Rafe said with a smile as he looked at her. His throat was tightening up, his nose filled with the scent of her bodywash which was apparently something that smelled a lot like vanilla.

It drove him crazy when he sat near her at school, it was driving him insane now because she was a lot closer to him.

She shrugged and then laughed a little as she looked at Rafe. So far he was probably her closest friend here. It went without saying, of course, she was falling madly in love with the guy but still.. The way he was looking at her right now.. she wasn't sure why but it made her stomach flutter a little. She bit her lower lip and muttered finally in a joking sarcastic tone, "I turn into a cat when the moon is full."

"Smartass." he muttered as he looked at her, leaned in a little. She'd finished patching up his busted lip but she still sat on his knees facing him which she found herself wondering why she hadn't just gotten up and moved. Flirting wasn't her style, she was awkward with people, especially guys. More specific, especially guys she liked a lot.

"I am what I am, Kovich." Annika muttered as he looked at her. She hadn't moved yet. He wanted to slip his hand down to her lower back, keep her there a little longer but.. He knew her too well by now. He knew that the second he did this, she'd dart out of his lap and flop down on her own bed or something. He'd tried the casual flirty yet friendly touching thing before, apparently she either did not want him touching her or she was just skittish as all hell because she'd flinch or move or something.

"So we're back to that now, huh?" he asked, looking at her. Annika looked at him and said quietly, "Back to what?"

"My last name instead of calling me Rafe." he asked as he leaned in just a little bit more. He was still shaky, still jittery, he would still kill for some kind of drug or something but it was gradually lessening. Being here in Annika's room was giving him other things to occupy his mind, keep it off of what he was craving.

**One** of the things he was craving right now at least.

The other he couldn't help but think about, hence the reason he was here, with her and not at the Pizza Shack or the diner or the docks with Molly and TJ like usual when these nights happened for him. He'd started distancing from them a little more lately.

"I didn't know it bothered you." Annika said as her skin heated a little, she fidgeted a little bit, nervously. She knew she should get up and move, something, because he'd always have a thing for Molly Davis and she was just the best girl friend, nothing more, but..

She was frozen to the spot in which she sat.

"It doesn't.. I just kinda like the way it sounds when you say my name." Rafe blurted as he looked at her, held her gaze. She hadn't moved yet but she was fidgeting, jittery and nervous again. "Are you okay?" he asked, chuckling a little as he did so.

"Yeah, it's just.. I don't know.. Guess I'm always like this when Meia's out getting shitfaced." Annika admitted honestly.

Okay, partially in honesty.. But how do you tell your best friend that you're falling in love with them, really? Especially when you know you're not what he deserves?

Rafe studied her intently and then noticed that she seemed to be lost in thought. He had this feeling there was more, she wasn't saying it. He said nothing, however. The tv was still paused and he said quietly, "I can't.. I don't wanna be alone right now."

"Me either. If you don't bitch about the selection in television, Rafe.. We can maybe just watch some tv?" Annika asked as he managed a smile, nodded and fell back onto the bed. She slid over on the opposite side, grabbing the pint of ice cream that had been sitting by the box of tissues on her nightstand, diping the spoon, holding it out.

He took it, ate the ice cream on the spoon and groaned.

"Gelatto. It's amazing. And also it will be the reason I have a really flabby ass when I'm in my thirties." Annika joked as he looked at her and shook his head.

If she knew how beautiful he actually thought she was...


	7. Chapter 4 Pt 2

Sam rubbed her forehead in frustration as she leaned back in the desk chair. Kristina looked up and asked quietly, "Well? Any luck? At all? Is Annika Lila?" as Sam grumbled and said " I've been trying for three damn hours, K, and I've yet to get past the firewall that will let me get into Annika's medical records and school transcripts or anything."

"Usually, sis, when you can't get past something, you don't get mad.. You just keep trying." Kristina reminded her older sister gently as she shifted Danny from one side of her lap to the other and looked at Sam. All of this stuff had come up recently, someone was either pulling Sam's leg or Lila really hadn't died.

Kristina, of course, was old enough to remember her older sister being pregnant and then 'losing' the baby. It'd been before their mother discovered that Sam was a child she'd had taken from her and given up for adoption, of course. Sam had been told that she lost Lila while in the hospital. The weird thing of it, to Kristina, at least, was that Lila had been born with no difficulty. She'd been healthy for all intents and purposes. And the doctor that told Sam, the guy had been very, very vague when he had broken the news.

"I know, Kristina. It's just someone doesn't want me getting to the bottom of this, obviously. And I have to. I have to know if that girl is my daughter. I have to.. Do something. I can't just sit back and let that woman that adopted her keep on hurting her, wrecking her life." Sam muttered as Kristina nodded and then held out the landline phone and said "It's not too early in Seattle. You know what to do."

A small smile filled Sam's face as she nodded. Kristina was being a huge help during this, as was Molly. The only person Sam hadn't said anything about her suspicions to just yet was her mother, Alexis. And she wasn't deliberately trying to keep it from her, she just didn't want to raise her mother's hopes or her own. She knew that her mother had taken it just as hard as Sam had when the news had been broken.

In a way, it had bonded the newly reunited mother and daughter back then. In some ways it was a sore subject now, one that either of them hardly discussed.

"So.. Molly told me that Rafe spends a lot of time with Annika lately." Kristina mentioned casually as she looked at Sam and asked, "What are you going to do as far as that goes if she is Lila?"

Sam shrugged and said quietly, "I don't know.. But Jason's got his heart set on believing she is Lila and he's already stated that he's not too sure about Rafe getting within a foot of Annika. That's another thing.. Do i ask her to change a name she's had her entire life if she is the daughter I lost?" Sam wondered aloud as Kristina shrugged and then said "I'd see what she wanted to do, if this is even Lila, first."

"Why aren't you out with Ethan tonight?" Sam asked as she looked at her younger sister. Kristina shrugged and muttered quietly, "He ticked me off earlier. Said he's worried about Luke because again he took off. If he leaves town again I'm not sure if I can deal with it. I mean he's always leaving." Kristina said as Sam studied her sister intently and then pointed out, "If you love him, Kristina, and I think we both know you do, you don't mean that.. You might say you're done but you're not. Because trust me. I speak from experience here."

"Dad's not gonna let her within a foot of Rafe." Kristina mused, mostly changing the subject because honestly, she didn't feel up to the task of discussing her love life (or how it might just be on the rocks) with her sister at the moment.

And she was excited at the prospect that she might actually be right about something. Her hunch might pay off. She was helping Sam as much as she could because she wanted her sister to finally have everything she'd ever wanted.

Sam deserved it, she'd done a lot for both her and Molly.

"Sonny will have no say in it. She is my daughter. And Jason's name will be on the birth certificate. He was going to sign it back then but then we..." Sam trailed off as she looked at the laptop screen and left Spinelli a quick voicemail explaining what she needed.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, across town, Rafe sat on Annika's bed beside her. The string of old christmas tree lights strung on the wall above her bed twinkled like stars or something and she'd been asleep for a little over an hour. He knew he should leave but he was afraid that if he left he'd succumb to the temptation to use and or her adoptive mom would come home and she'd be hurt again or something.<p>

And she just looked so peaceful sleeping. Seeing her room, her natural enviorment, if you will bought a smile to his face and shed a lot of new light on his best friend, the girl he was falling for faster than the speed of sound. He'd only thought he'd fallen for Molly fast.

This time though, Annika had completely blindsided him. He'd never expected to fall for her, never really saw it coming.

American Horror Story was frozen in pause on the tv screen and the bowl of half eaten chocolate and caramel coated popcorn sat between them while he sat there watching the rise and fall of Annika's chest as she slept, thumb in her mouth, curled up into a ball almost.

He reached down to the end of the bed, pulled up the pale pink and pale blue comforter over her and stood, stretching. He hated to leave her like this but he knew he had to get going. She'd shown him a whole other side of herself, a softer side tonight. He was realizing she was nothing if not a complex girl with many mysteries. And if he got g rounded because he got caught sneaking back into his uncle Silas' place at almost 2 am he just might not be able to get to know her even more.

Because he was on thin enough ice with his uncle, with his probation officer as it was already. He was lucky what he'd done that night hadn't landed him in jail forever or killed him. He was lucky his uncle didn't kick his ass out onto the street. He'd made huge mistakes in his past.

She stirred a little and he paused about halfway out the window and walked back over to her bed, tapped her awake. "I gotta get going. Or my uncle will kick my ass." Rafe said as she sat up, nodded a little and looked at his busted lip one more time before saying quietly, "Thanks.. For coming here instead of doing what you really wanted to do. I was freaking out about earlier, and I was a little lonely." as she leaned up a little, hugged him warily. But her hug wasn't as stiff as normal.

He smiled and hugged her back then said "Sleep." as she gave him a thumbs up and fell back into bed. When he heard her light snores again, he leaned down and kissed her forehead, then walked to the window, climbed out and hurried back towards his uncle's apartment.


	8. Chapter 5

Sam walked past the diner and happened to see Annika for herself. She couldn't help but stop and stare, the girl was definitely beautiful. She also bore a striking resemblance to both her aunts and Sam herself. She got Sonny's eyes and that was about it, thankfully. Sam smiled to herself quietly as she watched Annika interacting with Molly and TJ, Rafe sat in the booth beside Annika, and Sam noticed that every now and then, when Annika wasn't looking, Rafe would stare at her intently, sort of grin to himself and drop his gaze quickly before Annika noticed.

_'He still did drugs, Sam. If she really is Lila, do you want your daughter around that?'_ her mind nagged at her as she continued to watch the four teens, standing just out of sight so she wouldn't look weird or anything. This was her first actual time to have seen Annika.

Jason saw the girl a good bit, even though she no longer helped out at the garage after school because after that one shootout she'd been there to witness, Jason's 'papa bear' instincts went into overdrive and he'd told Annika to find a new afterschool job.

Which Annika had. According to Molly and Kristina, Annika worked at the coffee shop that Sonny (the man who could unfortunately turn out to be her biological father if she turned out to be Lila and this wasn't some joke) owned. Sam wasn't thrilled about it, but she couldn't voice her concern about Sonny hiring a teenager to work in a known mob hangout without Sonny suspecting something.

Maybe if the foster parent process went through for herself and Jason she could, but right now? She was a casual observer in the girls life.

And right now, what she was seeing for the most part was everything she'd imagined her daughter Lila would have been like. Looks, personality, everything. She smiled and raked her hands through her hair, forced herself to move along, go back to the office.

There was no sense in getting her hopes up, the girl she'd just stood watching for the better part of ten or so minutes could very well turn out to not be Lila. This whole thing could turn out to be a big joke. And Sam didn't want to feel all that old pain and grief once more if that turned out to be so.

She was getting closer to finding some sort of an answer. But having a DNA test done somehow would help her a great deal in uncovering that truth so she covertly texted Molly and asked if Molly thought she could get the cup that Annika was drinking out of and bring it by the office really quickly when the four of them left the diner.

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><p>Annika sat in the booth seat next to Rafe, biting her lower lip as she listened to Rafe, TJ and Molly discussing the dance she most likely wouldn't be attending. She'd love to go but she just didn't see Meia, her adoptive mother, forking over money she could be using to buy alcohol for Annika to buy a dress.<p>

Rafe noticed Annika's mind seemed to be a thousand miles away and to sort of drag her into the conversation, he cleared his throat and said "What do you think of the theme?"

"It's good.. I mean I won't be going but it's cool. I bet it'll be fun for you guys." Annika muttered as she toyed with a sunflower in the vase that sat in the middle of the booth, sort of a fall decoration. Rafe watched her a few moments and Molly asked with a gentle and concerned look in her eyes, "Why not?"

"Just can't, okay? It's formal for one thing and for another, it's not like anybody will ask me." Annika said simply, a solemn tone in her voice as Rafe spoke up and said with a slight smile, "I thought we could go. I mean as friends if you want." his words sort of faltering nervously.

What if he'd just blown it?

He figured she wasn't even a little interested in him which kinda sucked because he was head over heels crazy in love with her. He'd given up fighting it, he'd fallen for his newest best friend. And he was sitting on that knowledge because when he told Molly how he thought he felt about her, it'd only blown up in his face then. He didn't want a repeat.

Annika bit her lower lip and admitted quietly, "I don't have a dress.. And I'm pretty damn sure Meia will not give me just a little money to buy one. It's okay, guys, you can go. I'll just watch movies or something." as she looked at Molly who was about to offer to let her raid Kristina's closet, they looked to be about the same size and body type, surely Kristina had something that would fit her and she'd let her use it but Annika shook her head and said with a shrug, "It is what it is. It's not like I can actually dance anyway. Hello, remember that whole disaster when the gym teacher insisted we all learn different forms of dance earlier this month? I'm pretty sure Rafe's feet still haven't recovered from all the times I stepped on 'em. Or when I fell on top of that other dude, Parker. Or let's not forget me somehow managing to get wrapped up in the curtain in Drama class and bring the whole damn setup down on my head." as she laughed sheepishly. It was an attempt to change the subject and lighten the mood but Molly saw right through it.

Rafe watched her when she wasn't looking, his mind was in gear. He'd had a few 'movie nights' at her mom's apartment by now to realize that deep down she was this hopeless romantic. She was always reading those older books like Wuthering Heights or Pride and Prejudice.. Maybe he could do something to make the night special for her without her ever even realizing he was planning it until that night.

He still had two weeks until the night of the dance, he figured that was enough time.

He slid out his cell phone and sent a text to TJ who was sitting across the table while Molly and Annika were talking about other stuff, Annika saying that she'd still go to a store with Molly's mother and Molly to pick out a dress at the end of the week, even if she wasn't going. "I got an idea but I kinda need help to pull it off." the text read.

TJ read the text and looked at Rafe a few moments before smirking and then texting back, "I gotcha .. We cool now?" as Rafe read the text quickly and answered "Yeah, we're cool. Not into Molly. I don't think I loved her like that. Just thought I did. But she's still my friend, be good to her or I will kick your ass." as he slid the phone back into his pocket.

TJ read the text and gave Rafe a thumbs up as he slid his phone out of sight too, just in case.. As much as he loved Molly, he knew Molly would get excited if she saw the text and put two and two together, figured out what Rafe might have up his sleeve and first and last, she'd accidentally blab what Rafe might be up to then it wouldn't be a surprise anymore.

Molly was trying to change her friend (and potential niece) mind, but Annika wasn't budging. They'd talked earlier, Annika finally admitted that she did have feelings for Rafe but she was scared shitless of telling him that because she thought Rafe might still be hung up on Molly, or just plain not interested in Annika. Molly kept trying to tell her without telling her that Rafe did like her back, a lot more than Annika thought at that.

"Molly, whoa.. Calm down.. If I don't go to that dance, it won't make a difference. I won't regret it in ten years." Annika said as the two girls walked towards the bathroom in the back of the diner together. Molly looked at her friend and said quietly, "I know, but you're my friend. I wanted you to be there." as Annika nodded back and managed a smile as she said "I'm pretty sure Meia will say no. Or she'll just raise so much hell that I spend the entire night dreading her doing an idiot thing like storming into the dance and making a scene or something. I mean she did that when I was working at the garage because I was a few minutes late getting home and I'd texted to tell her I would be. She's just weird."

Molly nodded, made a mental note to herself to tell Sam later, get her to hurry the heck up on finding out if this girl was her niece because Molly was really, really worried about her living in this Meia woman's house. "If she's that bad, Annika.. You can sneak out and stay with me. I doubt my mother will say anything, I mean if she does, I'll just tell her something.."

"I won't get you in trouble, though.. Like I keep telling Rafe.. you guys are my friends. My situation is pretty much mine to deal with." Annika asserted stubbornly.

Molly thought to herself, _"She has to be a davis. She's just as stubborn as mom and Sam are, and she's definitely as stubborn as me and Kristina can be. She has to be Lila." _as she thought about things for a few moments.

"Rafe wants you to go." she finally tried again and Annika sighed as she said "As friends, Molly, I mean you heard him." while looking at her best female friend stubbornly.

It was weird, sometimes talking to Molly was like talking to a sister or something, she'd always felt this strange connection to the girl which when you consider the fact that Annika was head over heels in love with a boy that she was sure was still crazy about Molly, well..

It was strange to say the least.

"I don't think he meant it that way though." Molly said as she looked at Annika and explained, "He's just.. I kind of really hurt him. And now he's wary."

"He's over that, he told me.. I mean that's what he said." Annika explained as she looked at Molly and shrugged then changed the subject. They sat back down in the booth and when Rafe's arm slid back around the back of the seat, Annika felt her cheeks heating a little.

He was probably just doing it in a friendly way. She was just his friend, no matter how much she wanted it to be the opposite.

Rafe flashed TJ a covert grin and TJ mouthed "I'll talk to Shawn later, man. He'll probably let me." as he shifted his french fries to the middle of himself and Molly so they could share.

Rafe moved the nachos between him and Annika and asked through a mouth full, "Nacho? I didn't go crazy with the jalepeno this time."

Annika nodded and took a few, dipped them in the cheese as she ate and thought about her conversation with Molly moments before... She wished it would be true, that Rafe was starting to fall for her right back, but she was a smart girl, she knew that if it weren't for bad luck, she'd have no luck at all, really.

Because in a perfect world, her parents would've wanted her and she'd never have had to endure Meia and her adoptive father, Tyler. She'd have had a happy and normal life.


	9. Chapter 6

"Shhh. It's starting." Annika said as she wiggled into place on the sofa in front of Rafe. She thought nothing of it really, guy girl friends did that kind of stuff. It was now more a habit than anything for her to sort of want to be near him, to want to touch him and lean on him and stuff. But she didn't dare blurt out _'By the way, Kovich.. I think I love you you fucking idiot' _or anything close to that because then?

It'd get real.

And she'd probably get hurt.. Or laughed at.

"What is this show anyway?" Rafe asked as he tried **not **to let the way her petite body kind of just snugged against him on his uncle's couch perfectly get to him.. Because getting turned on by the way she was pressed against him on the sofa would just be plain awkward and he'd already met his quota for awkward moments when he'd blurted out what he had about the dance and his going with her, as friends when that was the last thing he wanted for them to go to the dance as, at the diner earlier this week.

But it was affecting him a little, the way she felt against him. He slid an arm over her hip casually, he couldn't resist touching her or something, she was only just now getting so that she didn't actually flinch whenever he touched her.. Anybody else, yeah she'd flinch still.

He kinda liked it because it showed trust. It made him feel important for once. Like he was worth something to someone, even if she only saw him as her closest best friend. From the way they were positioned on the couch, he could brush his lips to the top of her head if he was braver.

But, he wasn't yet. Tempted, yes, but not braver. He'd tried to turn his best friend into more once before and it hadn't worked. In the end, he'd figured out that maybe it was because it wasn't supposed to work. Molly was happy with TJ and he was just.. He was just happy.

Even if he never got to actually tell Annika what he felt for her, he was just making himself content with being her friend.

As his arm slid over her hip she bit her lower lip. She was turned away from him, of course, so he couldn't see the slight reddening of her cheeks or the way she bit her lip when his warm and minty breath hit the back of her exposed neck. She turned slightly to look up at him, she was lying flat on her back now and she laughed as she said "It's Supernatural, okay? It's just an awesome show. You've never seen it? Oh man.. Wow." while staring into his eyes.

They were deep yet at the same time they had these bright green flecks in them that really made the darker green pop a little.

The way she was laying right now really made him tempted to lean down, maybe just brush his lips to her lips and see what happened. But he didn't dare.. He'd learned once that telling someone means that you give them the power to either hurt you or make you the happiest man alive.

Yeah, in the end he hadn't actually loved Molly as much as he'd thought but still.. He knew that he loved Annika. And it just wasn't worth losing her over. She was his best friend, they were closer than he and Molly and TJ were these days, actually.

"So it's about ghosts?" he asked, his voice came out a few octaves deeper.

"And vampires, demons, werewolves, two crazy ass brothers who hunt them, Rafe. It's just awesome, okay?" Annika said as she held his gaze a few moments and asked, "That weird woman your uncle's married to isn't gonna come in here or something is she?"

Rafe chuckled and shook his head and then said "Nope. That chick, Rosalie.. She took her somewhere. Nina tends to disappear when I'm around." as he thought about why that was exactly, in his head. He didn't see how his uncle could be so damn dense about the woman but that was for another time and place and he'd rather not dredge up bad memories.

Because at night when he couldn't sleep he'd lie there and think about how he'd let her manipulate him into crashing into Dr. Drake. How that one stupid mistake would haunt him until he died. How in everyone's eyes, adults especially, he was never going to be a 'good kid' again.

He'd gotten off lucky, he could have gotten off so much worse. As it was, he'd had to spend a few months in juvenile detention. He was pretty sure Nina was thrilled pink about that, she had a while to manipulate his uncle Silas which pissed him off.

"Sorry about last time she came in. She's nosy." Rafe said as Annika shrugged and then said quietly, "Not a big deal, I mean she was just asking a question." as she again found herself unable to break his gaze. She reached up lazily and ruffled his hair. He growled a little at her playfully and then said "It's gonna be really funny, Annika, when I tickle your ribs."

"You wouldn't."

"I would, actually." Rafe said as she gave him a playful dirty look and then said "Are we watching the show or not?" while biting her lower lip. If she were braver she could lean up right now, pull him down almost on top of her, give him a kiss. But she'd never be that brave. He'd never want her like she wanted him, hell, apparently her own damn parents hadn't or she wouldn't have been given up at birth.

At least that's what her adoptive father used to tell her before he died. Mostly he said it to illustrate the point that he and her adoptive mother had chosen Annika to be their child. And she'd believed that until her adoptive father died.. then the truth about how her adoptive mother really felt about having her around came out. As well as a few other things.

"Yeah." Rafe said as he mocked the zipping of his lips and dug into the bowl of popcorn sitting on the arm of the couch above their heads. She held her mouth open and he dropped a piece in, laughed as she looked at him and then said "Seriously? One?"

"Okay, alright, here." he said as he held out his hand, let her take some of the popcorn in it. She laughed and looked at him a few moments. If she didn't know better, she'd almost say this felt like more than just two friends hanging out and trying to ignore their respectively shitty problems.

The show started and they got engrossed in it, she rolled back over onto her side, his arm went back over her hip and he smiled to himself in the dark. It felt right, her being here. And he wanted more than anything to actually tell her how he really felt but..

He didn't know how to do that without messing up a friendship and losing his best friend and probably one of few things he had that was keeping him from drifting back into old habits.

She slid her foot between his feet and grumbled about her feet being cold.

"Maybe if you didn't take your socks off." Rafe joked as she grumbled more and smiled to herself. If nothing else, she had him as a best friend. She was too damn afraid to mess that up. But knowing how strongly she felt she was having a harder time lately keeping it in.


	10. Chapter 7

**Just a heads up, guys.. Sexy intense kiss ahead. It's kinda steamy but I went where the muse took me with it. It's not sex. That won't be happening for a while. These two adorable little scamps get into enough WITHOUT adding sex to the equation, as you'll see below. Also, I'm sort of fleshing out the whole drug addiction storyline, trying to make it seem a bit more real. I mean they killed him off. had he lived, there would have been consequences for his actions.. It's mentioned in the chapter below that he spent a few months in juvie.. And that he still owes his dealers money. So actually, this story is future auverse, it's set next year. This is just what I think they could've done with the character of Rafe, had they kept him around.**

**But hey, they kill all my favorites. Instead of bitching, I've bought him back. Enjoy. And thanks for all the love and support and reviews so far. I'm glad a few people at least like this!**

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><p>"STOP IT YOU'RE HURTING HIM!" Annika screamed as she rounded the corner, saw two older men and Rafe fighting. Rafe was trying to defend himself, of course, but two on one was not a fair fight, not by any means. And Annika liked it even less because it was Rafe they were hurting.<p>

Rafe heard her screaming and internally, he groaned. He'd hoped she wouldn't see this, he'd hoped that he could just take what he knew he had coming to him and get it over with. But she had and now, if she reacted a certain way, this situation just got a whole lot messier. "GO ANNIKA! RUN! I'M NOT JOKING, DAMN IT!" Rafe yelled at her urgently as he saw the silver gleam of what looked like a blade in one of the men's hands.

Annika didn't budge though, she was frozen in shock. She was too worried to just leave him. She had to do something, she just needed a plan. She was determined not to let him get hurt or worse, beaten to death by these two older guys. She was also slightly irritated at him, Rafe, for getting himself into this in the first place, but still..

He was not that guy anymore, he hadn't been for a while now, according to Molly and TJ. He was trying to start his life over and move past all the stuff he'd done before she met him. And she loved him, so yes, she was going to do something to help.

Even if all she could do was scream until someone heard her and ran down the alley, found what was going on. Her eyes darted all over the alleyway looking for something, anything to intervene and even the odds, even if it were only a little bit.

She found the discarded pipe lying near a garbage bin, and she grabbed hold of it and didn't think, she just reacted. One of the guys had Rafe in a choke hold and she swung the pipe at the guy's lower back. He dropped the choke hold he had on Rafe..

Problem with this was that now, his attention was fully on Annika, who still held the pipe, raised, glaring at him, breathing heavily with both anger and adrenaline. His eyes lit up and he and his buddy looked at each other a moment, looked at Rafe and then he spoke, " Pretty little thing, isn't she? She yours? See, if you'd just told us you were seeing such a hot little piece of ass, Kovich.."

Rafe grumbled and gave Annika a pleading look with his eyes. He wished more than anything she hadn't come around the corner and seen them now. His heart raced as he snapped at Annika, who was frozen in place, her eyes wide, an angry scowl set in her face.

Instead of running, to his shock and dismay, she walked closer. He didn't see the pipe anymore, had she put it down?

He fought against the grip both of the older guys had on him as violently as he could. If something happened to her he'd never get past it because it was mostly because she was his friend and he was currently in the middle of a huge shitstorm he'd created before he even met and fell for her.

"Well? You gonna answer us, Kovich? It might just save your ass.."

He was about to say no, anything that might make the two older guys leave Annika alone, but Annika smirked as she looked at the two men and said "Letting him go might just save yours." as she looked at Rafe. He hadn't answered.

"You think, cutey?" one of the men said as he let go of Rafe, grabbed hold of her, smirked as he licked the side of her neck. Rafe growled and fought against the iron clad grip of the man that still held him and snarled at the man holding Annika, "Leave her the fuck alone."

"Or what, Loverboy?" the man asked as his hand crept to the hem of Annika's t shirt. That's when Annika surprised Rafe and stomped down on the man's foot then slammed her elbow into the man's gut. She turned to face the man as he was slumped over and bought her leg up, kicked the man in the head as quickly as she could. She picked up the pipe she'd accidentally dropped during all this and held it up menacingly at the other man.

Rafe gaped at her a few moments but he quickly regained his focus and got away from the man who had him, knocking the man down, kicking the man in the midsection when he had the man on the ground as hard as he could.

"Never touch her again." Rafe growled as the man looked up and said "Next time, kid.. We're gonna make sure you get what's coming to you.. You and that pretty little piece of ass of yours." as Rafe glared at him and then turned to Annika who was looking at him in concern.

She grabbed his hand and took off at a run towards the coffee shop. It was saturday, she'd been working the morning to lunch shift and nobody but the owner, Mr. Corinthos, was in the place.

"Sonny's decent, he's not gonna say a damn thing, okay? And there's a first aid kit in the back." Annika explained as she fumbled around on her keychain, found her lock pick. She'd locked the coffee house down when she stepped out for a few minutes to go meet Molly at Kelly's and have a quick lunch before going back to work, and stupidly, she'd left the key in the coffee shop.

Rafe gaped at her picking the lock and she looked up through a curtain of brown hair as she asked him with a mild shrug and a smirk, "What? A girls gotta have her tricks, okay? There's stuff you don't know about me, okay? Stuff I had to do sometimes." as he raked a hand over his head and then said quietly, "I wish you hadn't done that back there. Now they're gonna come after you."

"Good luck with that. I'm pretty good at this survival thing, trust me on that." Annika said as she grimaced at the bruises and the dried blood on his face. She opened the door that lead into the back area of the coffee house and once she was in the office space, she grabbed the first aid kit and gently pushed him down into the plush office chair behind Sonny Corinthos' desk, sat on his knees and started working on patching him up yet again.

"What kind of stuff, Annika?" Rafe asked as he looked up at her intently for a few moments. "Meia used to work in a brothel, for starters. After my adoptive father died. I had to live in that shit.. That was before they threw me in the first shitty group home, before she got popped for prostitution.. Which she wouldn't have, if she hadn't had cocaine on her person when the cop undercover searched her. When you're in a situation like I was, Rafe, you kinda learn how to fight. Quick." Annika said calmly as she finished cleaning out the injuries on his face.

"Nobody.. They didn't do anything to you.. Right?" Rafe asked, his stomach churned as he dreaded the answer. Suddenly the flinching made a lot more sense than it had before. So did her nightmares.

"They tried. After I got good at defending myself by any means necessary it kinda stopped." Annika mused, an indifferent look on her face. She'd dealt with all this long ago, it wasn't some painful or upsetting thing anymore. At least that's what she thought anyway. "Now it's my turn.. How much do you owe the dealers?"

"Almost a thousand dollars." Rafe admitted as Annika stared at him a moment, widened eyes. "And you haven't just went to PCPD with their names, why?"

"Because, Annika, if I snitch they will kill me. Or you now since you got involved earlier." Rafe said as he leaned forward a little. She shrugged and said quietly, "If you paid them though.. It'd stop.. Right?"

"It would.. Why?" Rafe asked as Annika looked at him a few moments, bit her lower lip but said nothing. Her mind was spinning.. There had to be a way to come up with the money. There had to be something she could do. He'd done more than he'd ever know for her just by being her friend.. Just by her falling in love with him, really. Her life wasn't so nightmarish anymore, he made her happy and made her feel safe.

"Just curious." Annika lied as she decided that for now, it might just be best to keep her thoughts on his debt to herself. She could come up with something, she'd always been damn good at thinking on her feet, even for a seventeen year old.

She'd had a hard life, no doubt about that. But it'd made her stronger, she didn't regret any of it, even if she hated it sometimes, hated the way it made her always question everyone and their motives, worry that she was unlovable.

"Whatever you're thinking," Rafe started to say, "Don't do it. I got me into this. I have to get me out.. Now you too. Because if it hadn't been for me, Annika, you wouldn't have gotten dragged into that just now." as he held her gaze intently.

"Don't even go there, Rafe." Annika muttered as she finished quietly, "I got dragged into that, Rafe, because I wasn't about to let them beat you to death." and bit her lower lip, held his gaze. The rest of what she was going to tell him, that she loved him and even though that terrified her, she was sick of fighting it, well, that all went unfinished. Best to just leave it at what she had said for now.

"And they almost did something to you." Rafe said as he leaned up a little, pulled her closer. The tension in the air between them was so thick that it could almost be seen and touched by now. It felt like a sauna in the room. He brushed his hand against her cheek, she put her hand on top of his.

Neither teen broke eye contact for whatever reason. Finally, Annika said with a smallish shrug, "Yeah, well I handled it, okay? Just like we'll handle this."

"I'll handle this. You're not gonna do anything else like you did today." Rafe said firmly as he leaned in a little closer to her. His lips were thisclose to her own right now and he was tempted to just throw caution to the wind for just a few moments.

But what if all this was just the result of both of their adrenaline surging?

"Is that you tryin to boss me around, Kovich? Cute." Annika taunted as she leaned in just a little more. Her lips brushed his lips warily, tentatively and that was all it took for Rafe..

He leaned up even more, one of his hands slid down, rested on her lower back, holding her in his lap. His other hand tangled in her hair, tugged it down from the way she'd had it fixed, a messy braid of some sort, his fingers trailed slowly through it as his lips crashed against hers with almost enough force and want to make her lips tingle at impact. His tongue trailed slowly over her lower lip and when she groaned and her lips parted, her tongue darted out, slowly trailed over his lower lip. His grip on her lower back tightened and he shifted slightly in his seat, coughing to ease tension as the kiss continued to deepen.

They gasped and gaped at one another, wide eyed when the kiss broke, Annika's hand raked slowly through her hair as she tried to calm herself down internally because right now it felt like her entire body was on fire.. And the guy who's lap she was sitting in was the only water around to put out that fire. "R-rafe?"

"What?" he asked quietly, his gaze shifted from her eyes to his hands a moment. Had he just made a total mess of things and ruined their friendship? His heart was hammering wildly in his chest right now, the very heart that a few months ago almost stopped beating for good.

"Any reason you.. Nevermind.." Annika fumbled for words as she tried to catch her breath. Her lips still tingled. They felt swollen, but again he had nipped at her lips almost hungrily for quite a bit just now. Almost like.. Like he wanted her.. Not a clumsy and friendly mistake kiss..

An honest to god if we were older and I wasn't so fucking scared I'd rip your clothes off right now kiss.

"Because, Annika, I wanted to. What about the way you kissed back?" Rafe asked as she looked up from toying with her black polished short nails to look at him and nod. "Same reason, actually. And it was driving me insane." Annika admitted as she held her breath.

She hadn't moved from his lap, he noticed. His hand was still gripping her lower back gently. It still felt like the room was a sauna or something, but now that he'd finally done what he wanted to do, kissed her, given her a really big clue about how he really felt.. He was cooling down a little. He was cooling down enough for common sense and better judgement to kick in.

"So..."

"This isn't gonna make things awkward, right?" Annika asked as she looked at him, a moments panic in her warm brown eyes. He shook his head and then said quietly, "Not for me, no. You?"

"Not really.. But I mean.. Are we still just..."

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Rafe asked as he looked up at her and waited. If she said no, he'd know that on her end it had been adrenaline and not any actual romantic interest.

"I'm scared to hear it but yeah.. Why not, I mean we just kissed like that and..." Annika said quietly as she looked down at her legs, looked down at where she still sat on his lap. He tilted her chin up so she could look at him in the eye instead as he said quietly, " I don't wanna just be your friend, actually. I haven't for a while now." Rafe admitted as she blinked, visibly shocked.

She laughed a little and said quietly, "Me either.. I just.. I was afraid, I guess.. Because I mean my real parents didn't want me according to my adoptive ones.. And people either leave or treat me like shit, so..." as she gently pressed her forehead against his.

"If Sam and Jason won't foster you, and it gets out about Meia, Annika.. We'll run somewhere.. Or if this thing with those two jerks gets worse." Rafe said quietly as he held her gaze. She nodded and caught her breath a little. Today had went nothing like she'd pictured it going when the truth about how they felt about one another finally came spilling out.

She'd been prepared for the worst.. Not the best possible outcome.

And across town, Sam slid a kitchen knife through the seal on a very important envelope as she held her breath and crossed the fingers on her left hand, prayed like she never had before.. If this indicated what she hoped it would the first thing she was going to do was go find this Meia woman and beat the living hell out of her.

Then she was packing up HER daughter and bringing her home where she belonged.

If Annika was not Lila, she'd seen the girl around and watched her from afar enough over the past few weeks to know that she wanted to reach out and help in some way.

Either way, that beautiful brunette girl with the hazel / brown eyes was not going to spend another night in hell.. Not if Sam McCall Morgan had anything to say or do with it.


	11. Chapter 7 Pt 2

**And what will happen now? Will Sam find out the truth? How will the aftermath of the kiss play out? Bahaha, stay tuned.**

**+++ CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS CHAPTER ONLY ITS THE NEXT DAY+++**

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><p>She'd had all night to sleep on the knowledge that her daughter wasn't dead.. That her daughter, thanks to some nut job who worked in the pediatrics ward of the hospital when she'd went into labor, had been raised under that nutjob's roof as his adopted daughter.. With a mother who hated her.<p>

When Sam woke up that morning, only two things were crystal clear to her and those were that one, she was going to tell her whole family today and two.. She was going to find Meia and she was going to make damn sure that Meia knew how it felt to have a black eye and a bloody nose. Nobody hit her kids and got away with it, even in situations like this where Meia hadn't known Annika, or Lila, Sam much preferred calling her Lila, had parents that actually wanted and mourned for her the whole time her nutjob husband was off raising her as his own.

"Today's the day. I thought I'd make you breakfast in bed." Jason said as he stepped into the room with a tray, food on it for the both of them. Danny started to wake up and Sam said quietly, "I just think about all the scars and bruises, all the things that Rafe's told me that he's heard Meia screaming at her, Jason.. What if she's messed up because of it? I mean I'm her mother and I couldn't do anything to protect her."

"But you can now, Sam.. You can eat your food, get your sexy ass in the shower and you can go get our daughter out of there. With my help of course.. My only question is what are we doing about Sonny? He is her birth father.. But we discussed back then.. I mean I still want to sign her birth certificate.. But what if Sonny wants to be in her life?" Jason asked quietly, a solemn look in his eyes. He'd been up almost all night getting his head around the fact that the little girl he'd read to while she was still inside Sam's stomach back then was the same girl he'd been letting work around the shop for a while there before that last shootout..

Now he knew maybe why he felt the connection he had.. And he wasn't the only one.. He'd talked to Sonny, Sonny seemed to feel a slight connection to the girl, she worked in the coffee shop now, apparently. Jason wanted to punch Sonny for hiring her because with Julian's men targeting every business Sonny owned or was tied to in any way, it really was not safe for her to even be near the place..

Sam sat silently munching her toast as she debated.. Did she want Sonny knowing? He was in a really, really chaotic place right now, a brutal mob war with her own damn father at that.

Hell, Annika already had enough to deal with.. Being caught between a grandfather and a father at war over some pathetic properties? Over territory and who owned what?

As a mother, Sam just wasn't sure that she could deal with the worry. But she knew if she told her mother, Julian would know.. And if Julian knew, soon Sonny would find out. She highly doubted Julian would use Annika to taunt Sonny, but she didn't know for sure he wouldn't, either because she still didn't fully trust the man.

She slid out of bed and went to her desk, digging around. She found the birth certificate at the bottom of her desk with a copy of Lila's footprint and name card from the hospital.. And the little pink bracelet that they'd had around her arm.

She held it out and a pen as she said with a smile, "Sign it. We'll deal with Sonny after we've dealt with everything and everyone else.. I just need to think about what to say and how to tell him even."

"Yeah, I know.. he's had a hell of a time lately." Jason mused as he smirked a little, unseen, signed the birth certificate and handed it back to Sam then said "Now.. Finish eating. I'm as ready to do this as you are. And the sooner we get it done, the less I'll worry about her being safe."

Sam nodded and smiled, leaned across the bed and kissed her husband. Then she finished eating her food, fed Danny the rest of his food, taking over for Jason while Jason showered and changed. And then she got up, showered and changed.

And the world looked so much brighter today. She smiled a genuine smile. She was happy. Today was the start of the one thing she'd always wanted happening. She was getting her baby girl back after all this time.

On her way to her mothers house, she thought about just how long all of this might take, how messy it might get if Meia wanted to fight her on it and make the process a lengthy and painful one. She couldn't rule anything out and this was going to take a lot of doing. Which is why she intended on getting the ball rolling today. She had all the proof she needed to prove that Annika was Lila, that Meia's former husband, a former employee, had taken her child and somehow managed to adopt her and raise her as his own.

* * *

><p>Annika was so nervous as she got ready for school that next day, that her hands were shaky. What if Rafe had time to cool off and realize it was an adrenaline thing? He'd said the night before that it wasn't, that he wanted to be more than friends, but..<p>

People had lied to her before, and quite a lot at that. She didn't know whether to believe what he said or not.. Because maybe it was the heat of the moment or something.. She sighed as she forced herself to focus on getting ready for school and she nearly jumped out of her skin as she felt his lips on the back of her neck and caught sight of him in the mirror.

He usually walked with her to school.. But he hadn't ever actually come over and walked her all the way to school before. She turned around and smiled, winced as she saw the bruises formed around his eye and nose. Her hand went to the bruise at his eye and she muttered darkly, "The bastard. I shoulda aimed for his head I guess." as he shook his head and looked at her a few moments.

Rafe was still shocked that the kiss the night before had happened. That it hadn't been some dream or something he'd just wished for so hard that he imagined happening. He curled his hand over her hand and said quietly, "You shouldn't have gotten in it at all, Annika." as he looked at her and then said "Sleep late?"

"A little, yeah. Thanks for helping me sneak in here last night. She was having one of her worse nights, if you hadn't helped me.." as he shrugged and leaned in, his hand resting on the nape of her neck as he pulled her into a kiss, smirking slightly. "Good morning." he said as she smiled into the kiss and muttered "So last night wasn't a dream then?"

"Nope." Rafe said as he pressed his forehead against hers and then said "If we don't hurry we're gonna totally miss getting breakfast at Kelly's with Molly and TJ." while holding her against him just a little longer. She nuzzled against him and muttered "I wanna go back to sleep. Warm bed."

"It's not that cold." Rafe teased gently as she muttered "Horse shit it's not, Rafe." and looked up at him, bit her lower lip. He chuckled and held out his jacket.

"You need it."

"No, Annika, you're smaller than me. You need it a hell of a lot more than me. I don't see why Meia won't buy you at least a warm jacket." Rafe said as he shook his head and then slid the jacket around her shoulders. They set off for school and she smiled as he slipped his hand into her hand.

Last night hadn't been a dream.. Now what was going to happen, she had to wonder, because it seemed like for every one thing she got that she wanted, at least ten or fifteen bad things tended to happen. She squeezed his hand gently as they walked into Kelly's and sat down, TJ nearly choking on scrambled eggs as he and Molly both blurted at the same time, "What happened to you?"

"We had an incident." Rafe corrected as he slid his arm around the back of the bench where Annika sat, moved her closer to him and then explained, "Which leads me to what I need to tell you.. There's these two pricks.. Might come after us.."

"If you're thinking about running, Rafe, you can't." Molly blurted as Sam's text that she'd gotten earlier this morning came back to her. She wasn't supposed to tell Annika yet, because Sam and Jason were working on how to do that very thing.

"If they try and hurt her, Molly, yes I can. It's my fault she even got herself into it." Rafe said as he leaned down, kissed Annika's cheek. Which of course, TJ and Molly caught on to and TJ smirked as he reached across the table, high fived Rafe while Molly said in relief, "Finally."

Annika blushed a little and shrugged, muttered something nobody could make out as she leaned up and ruffled Rafe's hair.


	12. Chapter 7 Pt 3

**And what will happen now? Will Sam tell Annika the truth? Bahaha, stay tuned.**

**+++ CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS CHAPTER ONLY ITS LATER IN THE DAY +++**

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><p>"And she wants to talk to me why?" Annika asked Rafe who said quietly, "Maybe she's gonna try and become a foster parent for you or something.. Sam's.. She's not like Meia, okay? And you said you felt comfortable around Jason.." as he stared down into her eyes, kept his arms around her. He could just tell she was freaked out right now, she had that 'wanna bolt in any preferable direction' look in her eyes. He was, as her man, doing whatever he could to make her see that this was not a situation in which she had to fear anything.. Even though, the fact remained, he knew as little as she did about what was going on currently, because all Molly had told either of them, via text a little over an hour ago when she and TJ left them to go run an errand for Sam was that Sam wanted Rafe to bring Annika to her apartment.<p>

Beyond that, Rafe knew nothing.

But, he knew Sam was an essentially good person so he was trusting in that. He had his side plans filed away in his mind just in case Sam told someone what he and Molly and TJ told her, showed her proof about the abuse in the house Annika lived in. Because he knew she'd be scared and he knew that she would die before going back into foster care or another group home.

It was amazing almost, the vast amount of things they did truly know about each other. Then again, it wasn't a surprise. They spent almost all their free time, together. She looked up at him and he held her closer, did his best to smile, reassure her. "Let's go inside. We'll see what she has to tell you and then we'll go from there, okay? Just remember.. I promised you nothing was going to happen. I meant that." Rafe said quietly as she took a few deep breaths and paused, looked at him and then turned the knob on the door to the apartment after his lips grazed her forehead tenderly.

"What's he doing here?" Jason asked as Sam nudged her husband and gave him a look. Jason shrugged her look off and then said "You might want to sit down, Annika... There's a big reason that Sam asked you to come over." as he gestured to the couch, let her sit down, gave Rafe a questioning and wary look.. After all, circumstances as they'd stood a few hours ago had changed around lunch time today, that's when Alexis pushed the process of bringing Annika back home where she belonged into high gear and Sam had gotten a court order sent to Meia to appear in court to face charges on what she and her husband had done.

And now, Annika was his stepdaughter. He was going to adopt her, he knew this already. And he just wasn't entirely sure about Rafe Kovich Jr being around her.. But then he noticed how the boy seemed to calm Annika, who was obviously freaking out at the moment, the way he sat close to her and said things quietly.

Sam was also watching her daughter with Rafe and noting that he didn't seem quite so bad when he was dealing with Annika. But she reminded herself, he had been addicted to drugs. Addictions aren't just broken overnight either. And he'd already done quite a few bad things, dangerous things.

Rafe could sense something big was up and he looked from Sam to her husband, brow raised, concerned. "Sam?"

"I need to think.. I have to say something and I can't just blurt it out, Rafe, or it'll upset Annika.. And if she's anything like me, she'll run.. Or panic." Sam muttered as she paced the den of the apartment, her hand dragging slowly through her hair.. Rafe mused to himself that Annika did that exact same thing.

"Sir?" Annika asked Jason who said quietly, "She's excited and nervous right now. But she has something important to tell you, Annika." as he looked at her, still processing the shock at her actually being Lila. Lila hadn't been dead. Sam had been right when she kept insisting even years later that she just didn't 'feel' like Lila was dead.

Now here she sat, a few feet away, in Sam's own living room and Sam was pacing, trying to figure out how to tell her little girl who they were, what happened without Annika flying off of the handle or running off so nobody could find her. Sam had no doubt that given everything she did know about what Annika went through in her life to this point, she'd do either of those things.

Annika's gaze shifted to Sam as she bit her lower lip and Rafe spoke up to ask bluntly, "Is this about her being a foster?"

Sam shook her head then said "Not exactly.. But it's close, Rafe. I want to thank you for coming with her." quietly as Rafe nodded and said with a smile, "I'm her boyfriend. I wasn't going to send her in here with people she doesn't know well.. Besides, when I broke the promise not to tell what was going on with Meia, it kind of became my fault she was even in the position she might be in."

"She's not in that position anymore, not as of this afternoon at 4 pm." Sam said as Jason nodded and then eyed Rafe warily yet again. He wasn't sure if he liked the kid around Annika, or Lila as they hoped she'd choose to call herself eventually, because this girl was the girl he'd felt kick inside her mom's tummy. The girl he'd pictured doing things a dad would do with their kids.

She was, for all intents and purposes, his daughter.

Or she would be soon enough. Paperwork, at this point, was a formality.

By now, both teens were looking back and forth from each other to the two adults present and Annika asked quietly, "What... What's that mean? If you guys told I swear to God I'll run and nobody will ever find me. Ever." in a firm tone as she held Sam's gaze. Sam shook her head and said "You won't have to..Because I found something out this afternoon. You are the daughter that got taken from me. People lied to me, Annika, and they told me you were dead. I'm your biological mother and Jason," she paused with a smile as she tried to keep the tears at bay, even though they were happy ones, "Well he was going to go on your birth certificate as your father. Your real father Sonny lives a dangerous life, it was for the best, all around." Sam explained as she held Annika's gaze, watched her processing all this.

Annika sat next to Rafe with a pounding heart and shaky legs. She heard what Sam said just now, she wished it were true too.. And looking at Sam.. They did share an awful lot of similarities. Coloring, hair, body type, even the same kind of button nose.. It started to click into place and then Annika asked, "So Molly.. That makes her my aunt.. Right?"

Sam nodded and Annika stood, paced a little, her hand in her hair at which point Jason asked Rafe in a civil yet wary tone, "She does this a lot I see?"

"Mhmm.. But sometimes, Jason, there's a lot more swearing and kicking at stuff, even throwing a thing or two involved." Rafe admitted, chuckling as Annika stopped pacing to give him a dirty look and then asked finally, "Did Meia and her husband.. Did THEY steal me from you guys?" as Sam nodded and then said quietly, "Your adoptive father pulled strings. He wanted a child, Meia never did. Probably why she left a confession on our doormat one night and ran." as Annika nodded and then said quietly, "That bitch.. that's what she meant by I oughta be grateful she even let me stay on with her after her husband died.. She knew the entire time."

"Not the entire time, actually.. Just for about the last five years or so... She admitted all of this to Anna Devane when the cops bought her in around an hour ago. My mother is working on.. Your grandmother, I mean, is working on somehow getting through as much of the red tape as she can to get you back here, with us and not stuck in another group home or with another foster family." Sam explained quietly as Annika paced more, bit her thumb in thought and said finally, "How soon.. .I mean how soon will she know anything?"

The phone in the next room rang and Sam said quietly, "That could be her now. Do not leave.. Either of you. For all I know, my mom could've gotten us a quiet hearing in the judges chamber tonight. She's effective and powerful when she's determined to make something happened.. And when I showed her the pictures of the bruises and marks Meia left.." Sam said as Jason spoke up and added, "They were both pretty mad. Not as mad as me. I begged Dante to let me have a crack at the woman when they bought her into the station.. How long has she done that?"

"It's gotten worse in the past two or three years, sir.. But pretty much for almost all my life. I'm kinda numb to it now." Annika admitted quietly as Rafe stood. He hugged her against him and said quietly, "See? I promised you.. Nothing bad was gonna happen."

"I'm... I'm kind of shocked.. I need to sit.. Or faint or something, hell.." Annika mumbled in a rush as she flopped back onto the couch and waited on the phone call Sam went to answer to finish, her entire future hung in the balance now and she was panicking worse than she ever had before.


End file.
